


The Wind In My Sails

by HomuraBakura



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Childhood Friends, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Ice Witch!Rin, Kidnapping, Military, Rescue, Reunions, Separations, Technopath!Yugo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-20 14:20:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14262879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomuraBakura/pseuds/HomuraBakura
Summary: Rin and Yugo have a dream: to leave their horrible, unfeeling city behind and fly on the marvelous airships that travel to all ends of the earth.  But can two scruffy, self-taught orphan engineers really find a way off their floating island, and what's waiting for them out there in the great blue sky?[For Appleshipping Week 2018]





	1. The Lonely Breeze

_ The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails. _

\- William Arthur Ward

* * *

 

She thought she remembered praying that, if there was a god in this world, that he might let her die young.

The cold didn’t hurt, of course, she wasn’t sure it ever had.  Even though others tucked into corners tugged their rags around them as tightly as they could, found windbreaks in the corners of freezing cold alleys to protect themselves, she herself didn’t feel it.  She heard some mutter about it, saw them shiver, heard teeth clattering, but her own bare skin didn’t even raise a single hair in protest. She wasn’t sure what cold was like.

She knew hunger, though, and pain.  She knew to stay away from the main roads, where the men in heavy boots would kick at her and children in fresh pressed clothes would laugh and spit at her.  She knew to wait until the shops had closed to rummage in their dumpsters for spare bits of bread, lest owners burst out of their doors waving their sparkling prods and flashing eyes.  Her skin still burned on the places where the prod had shocked her on days when she wasn’t fast enough. 

She knew sunken cheeks and hollow eyes, mirrors of her own, yet more callous and suspicious, who would screech at her if she tried to come too close to their hiding places in warehouses or alleyways, refusing to share even a crumb of the bread that they had scavenged.  She knew bony hands that stung against her cheeks when she tried to join slumped bodies to hide from wandering security officers, hissing voices that called her  _ freak _ .

She knew loneliness more than anything else in the world.

Empty piers without airships docked in their ports were the only places in the whole city that were quiet and alone, the only places where no one would shout at her to get out or keep moving.

She sat on the edge of the dock, far beyond the safety line, with her legs hanging over the edge.  Beneath her, clouds floated like a lazy stream. Sometimes they would stir enough to reveal a flash of green, of the world far below her, out of her reach.

A breeze tickled her hair, brushed her skin.  It was the only thing she knew how to feel, save for the quiet tears that rolled down her cheeks without acknowledgment.  This wasn’t a world that gave tears any notice.

Wisps of clouds and mist swirled onto the docks around her, but she paid it no notice.  She just looked up towards the sky, choked gray with clouds above and below, sealing off her city in a bubble of depression.  It would rain today, she felt in her bones. She needed to find shelter. She didn’t want to leave the pier.

So she looked down again, at the snatches of green between the gray.  A world she wasn’t a part of. Wind that she would never see or feel. Another tear rolled down her face.  The wind rocked her light as she stood up, her toes hanging just barely over the edge. Her tiny body swayed dangerously from a sudden breeze, but she didn’t fall.

Maybe....

Maybe it would be all right to fall.

Maybe for just a few moments, she would fly.  Away from this place, away from everything, away from the loneliness.

She closed her eyes.  Her body swayed forward.

A hand grabbed her wrist.

All at once, her eyes flew open.  For a moment, she was pitching forwards into the endless gray, and the panic overtook her.  She screamed. She didn’t want to fall! She’d never land!

Then the hand on her wrist was wrenching back, and the two swayed the opposite direction, crashing into the deck.  She went face first into a soft body, tangled up in someone’s arms and gasping with surprise.

For a long, long moment, neither of them moved.

“Whew!” came the small voice from near her ear.  “That was really close!”

She was suddenly, intimately aware of the warm body underneath her.  Gasping, she scrambled to get off of them, collapsing to the deck on the other side and skittering to a sitting position.

He sat up, too, groaning as he rubbed the back of his neck.

He was not much older than she was, probably about nine or ten.  He had a skinny, lanky body, and sunken eyes like hers. Still, there was a glimmer of mischief in his bright blue eyes, as blue as the sky on a sunny day.

Her heart hammered in her chest, and for a few moments it was hard to breathe.  He just looked at her for a few moments. Then he smiled, and leaned in. She jumped, thinking he was about to hit her.  But he only brushed some of her bangs out of her eyes, pulling it away from where it had stuck to her cheek.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

No one had ever asked her that before.

He blanched when she started to cry.  He leaped to his feet and waved his hands around frantically.

“I’m sorry!!  I didn’t mean— I didn’t mean to make you cry!  I’m sorry! What did I say?”

She couldn’t stop.  She couldn’t stop crying.  The tears waterfalled down her cheeks and no matter how many times she wiped them away with her fingers and pushed them back with the heel of her hands they wouldn’t stop.

After a few moments, she felt his hands awkwardly patting her on the shoulder.

“There, there,” he said, as though parroting someone else’s words.  “Um....there, there, it’s okay.”

No one had ever told her that, either.  She almost cried harder.

But she swallowed back her tears, squinted through the blur, and tried to see him, the little boy hunched over her with his hands patting her shoulders, looking so concerned.  The boy who had pulled her back to safety.

“Are you okay?” he asked again.

This time, she didn’t cry.  She sniffled.

“I think so.”

The smile that broke over his face was so bright and dazzling that it seemed to light up the sunless world.

“Oh, thank goodness!  I was really scared, I thought you were going to fall.”

She looked towards the edge of the dock.  It was creeping into her veins, now, what had nearly happened.  She had nearly just let herself fall. She had nearly...

“I wanted to fly,” she found herself mumbling, incoherent.

The boy looked at her with wide bug eyes.

“Well, you don’t do it like that!” he said.  “You do it like that!”

He jabbed his finger past her, pointing to something behind her.  With a sniffle, she looked back over her shoulder.

At one of the docks further in, an airship was coming to dock.  She could see the flashing lights of the conductor, waving his glowing sticks to indicate speed and direction to the pilot bringing it in.

“I’m gonna fly in one of those one day!” the boy said.  “I’m gonna learn how to fix the engines, and I’ll go see the whole world.”

“The...the whole world?”

“Uh-huh!” He spun in a circle with his arms out wide, laughing.  It seemed to light the air with sparkles, somehow. Or maybe she was just more hungry than she thought.  “It’s going to be so beautiful!”

She had never even thought about the world.  About anything except this city and the snatches of green between the gray.  About anything except for the hunger and the loneliness. But this boy...this boy seemed to glow.  It was like nothing she had ever seen before.

“Oh!” the boy said suddenly, and he leaned down to grab her hands. “You should come with me!”

She jumped when he grabbed her, and then jumped again at what he said. Her mouth hung open.

“I...what?”

“You should come with me!  To see the world! We can learn how to build the engines together so that we can fly away.  And then you can fly, too!”

Fly away.  It sounded so beautiful.  And he was smiling at her.  He wasn’t flinching away from her touch like the others had, he was holding onto her so tightly.

“Are you sure you want me to come?” she whispered.  “I’m....I’m not very nice to have around.”

“Silly!” he teased.  “I think you’re very nice!”

“You don’t really know me.  We just met.”

“That’s okay!  Anyone who likes the wind must be nice!”

He was stupid, she thought.  He must be.

But he was smiling a lot, and he had saved her, and he had asked if she was okay, and he was holding her hands.  She rubbed her tears away with one extracted hand one last time.

“I don’t even know you,” she mumbled.

“Oh!” he said, as though he had forgotten.  “That’s right! I’m Yugo!”

He grinned, sitting down in front of her while still holding onto her hand.

“What’s your name?”

She couldn’t remember the last time she had ever been asked such a thing.  For a moment, she almost forgot. 

A light breeze played through her hair and his, ruffling their grip without dislodging it.

“Rin,” she whispered.  “My name is Rin.”

She thought she remembered praying that, if there was a god in this world, that he might let her see the same world that Yugo did.


	2. The Ice Bell

_Ice burns, and it is hard to the warm-skinned to distinguish one sensation, fire, from the other, frost._

_-_ A.S. Byatt

* * *

 

He leaned back with a puff of exertion, wiping back the sweat on his forehead.

“She’s looking great!”

“She’s looking ragged,” Rin said, frowning.  “I’m not sure how long these parts will hold.”

“Don’t worry so much, Rin-Rin!  It’s going to be fine!”

Rin’s lips pushed together the way they did when she was getting ready to give a lecture.  But for the time being, she didn’t let it loose. Instead, she puffed out her own breath and sat back, leaning on the bench behind them.

The tiny garage wasn’t much, but it was a home.  The beams were worn and peeling, the walls were splinter-city if you happened to fall onto them, and the concrete floor was patchy.  It was cold in the winter and hot and stuffy in the summer like it was now, even when they had the big front door thrown open. There was just enough space for their little bench, a table to store their toolbox, and the thin sleeping pad that they shared.  But, it was far more than they had had in years before. It was dry, and it could lock, and it was in a safe enough part of town that they wouldn’t have to worry about taking watches. In short, it was just about perfect.

Yugo rubbed his hands over the little engine on the table in the middle of the room, wondering at the sprockets and the gears and pistons that made something so small so powerful.  This little thing would power a whole electric generator.

“We have to make sure it works,” Rin said finally.  She tugged off her threadbare gloves and wiped sweat hands off on the front of her already stained coveralls, one of only two outfits she owned.  “If it breaks after we sell it, we could get in trouble.”

“I know, I know, you’re always saying that,” Yugo said. “But this one won’t break! I’m sure of it!”

Rin bit her lip, looking uncertain.  But Yugo had _never_ been wrong about a machine, and Rin knew it as well as she did.

“The parts are old, but they want to work together,” Yugo said.  “These parts really want to be a part of something. They’ll work for at least another two years.”

The metal seemed to warm and hum under his fingers, and he had to smile at how excited the engine was.  It was really eager to get back to work. A machine like that wouldn’t break down for a long time.

Rin let out a sigh.

“All right, Yugo, I trust you,” she said. “And you’re right, you’ve never been wrong before.”

“Yay!”

Yugo threw his hands up into the air with excitement.  Rin half smiled, shaking her head at the childish expression.  Rin was always like that; a little bit nervous about being excited or happy, a little bit uncertain about smiling.  Even four years of the two of them living together and taking care of each other hadn’t rid her of the jumpy nervousness, the way that her eyes would narrow with suspicion at every person who came too close, the way she’d flinch at the slighest motion.  

So every smile from Rin was like a little treasure that made Yugo’s heart swell up.  If Rin had trouble being happy, he’d try to be happy for the both of them until she felt safe enough to smile again.

“Let’s go out to the market now, they’ll be open!” he said, tucking the engine into his arms.  “And then once we get paid let’s spend it on something yummy!”

“We shouldn’t splurge, Yugo, we need to save up so that we can afford the entrance exam fee.”

“I know, I know, but we should treat ourselves once in a while.  There’s a booth near the market that sells shaved ice. Shaved ice, Rin!  It’s only a copper each!”

Rin rolled her eyes, but she gave him another tiny, treasured smile and Yugo’s own smile widened.

“It’s really hot out,” he pointed out, shaking his sweaty bangs out of his face.

“You’re trying to convince me, and it’s not going to work,” Rin said.  “Let’s see how much this sells for. Then I’ll decide.”

That was good enough for Yugo, so he let out a happy little whoop that brought on another precious smile.

Rin pulled the garage door down and locked it behind them.  She patted at the front of her coverall, looking a bit self conscious as she stared down at the stains.  Yugo nudged her with the engine against her shoulder to startle her back to herself. She shouldn’t worry so much.  She always looked pretty no matter what; it was like she almost kind of glowed in the sunlight.

The sky was clear and blue today, and a lovely breeze twisted through the towering city buildings.  Everything looked a bit rusty in this part of town, and many of the tall buildings had empty windows where the panes had been shattered or popped out.  But just through the alleys and up the street, the pock-marked road turned to a smooth cobble, each stone fit perfectly together to make a flat surface.  Yugo started to have to weave around people as the crowds got a little thicker, laughter and chatter twirling around them. Rin’s hand curled into his sleeve, and he could feel the usual faint ice that seemed to rise off of her skin brushing through his shirt.  He slowed down to make sure she could keep up. Rin hated crowds.

The market bloomed into view as they popped out from the shop district.  Colorful booths with flags flapping in the wind filled the air with the whipping of fabric.  People in equally colorful scarves shouted out wares, shoving their products towards the faces of wandering people.  At the edge, there was a small dirigible coming in, and Yugo could hear the lovely hum of a happy engine as it came in to dock at the edge of the city.  Out here, Yugo could feel the humming of the city’s flotation engine under his feet, hear the way it clattered excitedly, so pleased to be doing such a good job of keeping its city in the air.  It put a bit of a spring in Yugo’s step, though he was careful not to loosen Rin’s grip.

“Rin, look, ice,” he whispered, nodding towards a small booth with a huge crowd clustered in front of it.

The booth had a pretty blue and white top on it, and through a gap in the crowd, Yugo could see the tiny young man on the other side, grinning as he scooped out what looked like a bright white snowball from a tube, plopped it into a paper tray, and drizzled some colorful liquid over it.

He looked at Rin, and she was biting her lip, staring at the ice as curiously as he was.

“We should get some,” he said.

“Oh, hush, Yugo,” she said, but he could tell that she was very tempted. “Let’s just sell our engine.”

Yugo grinned.  They both knew she’d give in once they had a lovely sack of coins in their hands, and she’d justify it by saying that they shouldn’t be carrying too much money on them, anyway.  She always did.

Yugo led the way through the now dispersed crowd, as it was noon and the market was a bit slow while people went to lunch.  There were some here or there discussing and haggling, but Yugo made a beeline for one near the edge, just at the safety line that only airship passengers could pass.

Rin released him once they were free of the crowd, but she didn’t relax.  He could still see her eyes darting around for any sign of trouble. Yugo marched right up to the booth.  He didn’t see anyone right away, but when he knocked the engine lightly against the side, a man immediately shot straight up from where he had been folded up behind the counter.

“Now who’s there!” Chojiro Tokumatsu bellowed in his usual booming voice.  Rin flinched, but Yugo just grinned.

“Down here, Enjoy!” he called.

The scruffy old man squinted down at them, staring for a moment longer than necessary.  Then his failing vision seemed to click to who they were, and he smiled.

“Ah!  Little engineers!  Afternoon!”

“Afternoon, Enjoy,” Yugo said.

“Hush, you, I haven’t been called that in years,” Chojiro said with one of his big belly laughs.  “Now what have you got here for me?”

“Electric generator engine,” Rin said, taking over.  “Old model, best for Goldestaff stuff. Probably an era 214, but some of the parts are different eras.”

“Thorough as always,” Chojiro said while Yugo hefted the engine onto the counter. “You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, Miss Rin!”

Rin ducked her head to hide behind her bangs.  Chojiro didn’t notice, though, he was too busy examining the engine with his little magnifying glass.

“Seems to be a bit worn out back here,” he said.

“They look old, but the parts want to work,” Yugo said.  “They’re not giving out just yet.”

“Yugo estimates it’s good for about two years,” Rin said.

Chojiro hummed while he examined it, turning it around a few times.  Then he nodded sharply, and let the magnifying glass fall to his chest on its little chain.

“Well, if Mr. Yugo says so, I’ll have to agree!  Haven’t steered me wrong yet, son. Either of you.”

“Thank you sir!” Yugo said cheerily.  Rin mumbled out a small thank you herself.

Chojiro hummed and huffed for a few more moments to appraise the engine.

“Three silver,” he said.

“Five,” Rin said in her quiet haggling voice.

Chojiro smiled.

“Three silver and two bronze.”

“Four silver.”

“Three and a three quarter.”

“Deal.”

Chojiro sent them both a grin as he passed the little sack of coins over.

“You’ll be giving those coots in the business a real run for their money once you get into Engineering Guild,” he said.  “I’m looking forward to it.”

“Thank you, sir!” Yugo said cheerily.  He passed the coins over to Rin, who tucked them safely into a hidden pocket inside her coverall.  The engine hummed with excitement while Chojiro tucked it away to be sold later, and Yugo gave it a tiny wave goodbye.   _Good luck!_

Yugo grabbed hold of Rin’s arm as they walked away.  Her skin was freezing cold to the touch even through her sleeves, but it was all right.  It was just another thing that made Rin herself.

“That was a lot!!” he said excitedly.  “You haggled for a lot!”

“Chojiro will be able to sell that engine for at least a gold.  I gave him a deal,” Rin said. But she smiled little, proud of herself.

“Let’s celebrate with a shaved ice!”

“Oh, you,” Rin said, rolling her eyes.  “Well...we do have a few coppers in here.”

“Yes!”

He clung to her arm and half dragged her through the market towards the ice stand.  It was mostly clear by now, with only a few people in line. Yugo bounced excitedly on his toes, shaking Rin along with him.  

“Yugo, calm down,” she said, trying to hold him still, but it was hard, it was _so hard_ to stay still.

He could hear another happy machine in the booth ahead of them, a cold machine that tumbled and buzzed while it kept the ice cold, proud of itself for doing such a good job.  Yugo wished he could walk around the booth and give it a pat and tell it that he knew just how happy it was. People didn’t usually tell their machines thank you or good job, and that made him sad.

There was only one person left ahead of them.  Yugo hopped more insistently.

A shoulder smacked into him, and he nearly fell over as a large someone shoved in front of them, cutting in line.  Rin managed to hold onto him so that he didn’t fall.

“Hey!” Yugo said, glaring at the big back of one of the three people who had shoved in front of him.  “What’s the big idea??”

One of the three nonchalantly looked back over his shoulder.  He was a hulking sort of man with a dusty shadow of a beard, and his comrades were only a bit shorter than him.

“Oh,” he said.  “I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.”

He didn’t _sound_ sorry, Yugo thought, glaring at him.  Rin gripped his shoulder. The cold was getting more intense, and he could feel it in his lungs a bit, but he ignored it.

“That was rude,” he said.

The man grinned, exchanging a glance with his friends, and Yugo felt a little nervous all of a sudden.

“You don’t look like the kinda kids to have the money for delicacies like this,” he said, turning around.  He was so tall, but Yugo tried to look as tall as he could, too, so that he wouldn’t look scared. He moved himself a little in front of Rin to protect her.

“W-well, we do, today,” he said.  “I mean— that’s not your business!”

“You look like the kinda kids who mighta stolen the money, is all I’m saying,” the man said.

“That’s a big fat lie!  Rin and I work hard to make money!”

The man patted his pocket very loudly, and made a fake surprised face.

“My wallet seems to be gone,” he said.  “I wonder what could have happened to it.”

“Yugo, let’s go, let’s get out of here, please, they just want to start something—” Rin begged.

Yugo really, really wanted to treat Rin to that shaved ice.  It was so exhausting, having to fight with people like this and get scared away all the time!  But Rin was right...as much as he wanted to, it would be dangerous to fight a man like this. So he growled softly, and tried to back off.

It looked like he wasn’t going to be let off so easily, though.

Yugo gasped and choked when the man kicked him hard in the stomach.  Rin screamed, and he tumbled out of her grip onto the ground. Rin tried to throw herself over him, but one of the others kicked her, too, throwing her out of the way.  Yugo shot to his feet out of sheer anger, fists raised. He didn’t stand a chance. A fist clocked him hard in the side of the head and spots flared in front of his eyes, so badly that he didn’t feel it right away when he skidded into the ground.  A foot stomped on his side and he threw his hands over his head while two different feet started stomping all over him and it was all he could do to protect his head—

Icy cold wind cut through him and stole all his breath away.  The feet stopped kicking him. Through the haze and dizziness of pain, he heard one of them swear.  Then he heard one of them _scream_.

Dizzy, Yugo slowly managed to sit up.  It was... _cold_.  It was so cold. It had been swelteringly hot a moment ago, but it was freezing now, enough to make his hair stand on end and his nose sniffle.  He heard another scream and turned towards it.

The tallest man was screaming bloody murder, struggling and writhing in...in Rin’s grip.  Rin’s eyes had gone a full, pale hazel yellow, glowing faintly, and she refused to let go of his wrist.  From her grip, ice was growing up the man’s arm. There was another man on the ground who was...oh god. Yugo almost threw up.  His arm had frozen and shattered and he was missing an arm, the frozen bits of it laying on the ground. Ice gripped at the bottoms of Rin’s feet, sealing her against the ground and preventing the man from pulling away without shattering his arm, too.

Yugo coughed.  It was so cold, it was hard to breathe.  He could hear someone screaming.

“Rin,” he gasped.  “ _Rin!_ ”

She didn’t hear him.  She was gasping for air, whole body trembling, but she wouldn’t let go of him.  Maybe she couldn’t let go.

Step by painful step, Yugo dragged himself over to Rin.  She was so cold to touch that it burned, but he grabbed hold of her anyway, wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing his head against her back.

“Rin,” he gasped.  “It’s okay. You can let go.”

Rin seemed to come back to herself all at once.  She gasped, her eyes flickered back to normal, and all at once, the heat surged back into the world around them.  Yugo almost choked on it. The man screamed once more as he fell backwards, but his arm was unfrozen.

Rin was still cold in his arms, but not enough to burn. She trembled.

Then a faint scream echoed somewhere in the market, and she stiffened up.  She gripped Yugo’s arms.

“Please,” she gasped.  “Let’s go.”

They made it back to the garage that night, and despite her trying to push him away, saying she was too cold, he grabbed her anyway, curling up with her in his arms on the futon.

The next morning the navy arrived at their door.

It was all a bit of a blur.  Yugo thought they were going to be arrested.  He didn’t understand most of what they said. He got the ‘no charges made’ and ‘you aren’t in trouble’.  There were words that he didn’t get, but Rin sat frozen and pale in her chair, talking woodenly. _No.  No I don’t want to go.  I don’t want to learn._  Yugo didn’t understand.  Something about a school.  About windwitches. About powers that Rin needed to learn how to control, needed to learn how to use for the good and glory of Synchroncity.

But the next thing he knew, Rin was being hauled out the door, and he was running after her and he could hear the thrum of excited dirigible engines who were happy about going back into the air, but he couldn’t be happy, he couldn’t tell them they were doing a good job, because they were taking his best friend away from him, and Rin was gone.


	3. The One I Miss

_The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared._

-Lois Lowry

* * *

 

Her new room was tiny, and she had to share with a stranger.  She stopped in the doorway, tense. She flinched when the navy man who had accompanied her patted her back, leaping over the threshold and flipping around. He looked a bit surprised by the motion, but he waved her off.

“Don’t worry,” he said.  “You’ll be fine. Go ahead and settle in.”

She had nothing to settle in.  All she had was the clothes on her back and the coin sack she still had from her and Yugo’s last sale.   _Yugo._ Oh, Yugo, what would he do without her?  He’d get into trouble, he’d miss out when someone was scamming him, he’d try to look for her somehow and he’d get arrested for leaving the city without a passport.

She tried to move forward towards the door, but it was already closing.  She was stuck inside with the stranger she hadn’t acknowledged yet.

She tensed when she heard the girl yawn, and slowly turned around.

“So you’re the new girl?” the girl said.  “Everyone’s been talking about it. Finding new windwitches is rare.”

She looked about Rin’s age.  Maybe a year old, maybe fourteen instead of Rin’s thirteen.  She had a lean sort of face and a lean sort of body, like someone who had been exercising her whole life.  Her hair was down around her shoulders, dark as the sky at night, with faint highlights of the day sky framing her face.  Her eyes glittered in the dim dorm light, a deep emerald that looked like a cat’s.

“What’s your name?” the girl asked.  “I’m Selena. I’ve been here the longest.  I’ve had my own room for a long time because of seniority, but we’re out of rooms now so you’re stuck with me.  Don’t worry, I’ll teach you the ropes, nobody will mess with you when I’m around.”

Rin looked around the room, letting Selena’s chatter fade to background noise.  It really was tiny. It made her tiny garage with Yugo feel like a mansion. It looked like bunks for a ship, with just enough room for a bunk bed on one side, where Selena was sitting on the bottom, and two small desks pushed up against the other wall.  Selena’s was clearly claimed, by the books sitting neatly in rows on the top and the neatly lined up pens and paper. There was no window, and the walls were all a rusty looking, peeling metal that smelled bad. The only light came from a bare, dim light bulb hanging over head.

This room was the saddest and most prison-like place she had ever been.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” Selena said.

Rin looked at her.  She didn’t know what to make of her.  Except that her hair was the same color as Yugo’s eyes, and everywhere she looked even in this tiny, tiny room, she saw memories of Yugo.  She could hear the room humming from a distant generator and remembered how he would nudge her in the ribs and whisper about how excited the machines were, how proud they were of themselves, talking about them like they were real and alive and maybe they were, and Rin just couldn’t hear them.  She couldn’t hear anything in the hum of the generator except the echo of Yugo, and if not for the stranger, she would have cried.

“I don’t want to be here,” she said, and she sat down at the desk and turned around so that she wouldn’t have to look at Selena.

For a few moments, Selena said nothing.

“No one does,” she said, so quietly it might have been the walls speaking.

~

Yugo yelped.  He sucked the cut that blossomed on the pad of his finger.  He should have been wearing gloves. Rin would have scolded him if she had been here.  He could hear her so clearly in his memory that tears came to his eyes, and he had to close them.  No, he couldn’t think so sadly. He was going to get out there and find her.

He returned to his work digging through the junk piles.  He had to work quickly, this stuff would be dumped off the city edges in a few hours.  There might still be something good to build with, though. He needed more parts for his one-person dirigible, right now it was too sad to fly.

He took a few more nicks and cuts, wishing Rin were here to remind him to bring his gloves with him.  But she wasn’t, and it was his fault, and he had to go get her back.

 _“I really shouldn’t tell you,”_ Chojiro had said, but he looked mournful and upset when Yugo had run back to him, bruised, crying, and shaking, and telling him that Rin was gone and he didn’t know where she had gone.

_“S-shouldn’t tell me what?”_

Chojiro looked both ways, and back at the docks, which were empty now in the evening light.  He leaned in across the table.

_“I always suspected, but now I know.  Your Rin is a windwitch.”_

_“What...what’s that?”_

Chojiro put one finger to his lips.

 _“If anyone asks, I didn’t tell you,”_ he said.   _“They’re a military secret.  And when I tell you, you’ll probably get yourself into trouble to find her.”_

 _“Then tell me,”_ Yugo said, clinging to the words ‘find her.’  Yes, yes, that’s what he had to do, he had to find her.

Chojiro looked very uncomfortable, and he seemed to waver back and forth before he finally spoke.

_“Windwitches are rare.  They’re born with the ice and the wind in their blood.  The air is theirs to command. Temperature is theirs, the wind moves where they want it.”_

Rin always was cold to the touch, Yugo though.  And it would always get breezy when she was mad.

 _“Why does the navy want her?”_ he asked.

_“Think about it, Yugo.  Someone who can control the wind?  The temperature? You’re a smart boy, you know how airships fly.”_

_“Wind and heat,”_ he said promptly.   _“They heat the helium, and use the wind to fly.”_

_“The navy can’t have windwitches being used against them.  But they can also make good use of them. So they claim ownership over any and all windwitches that are discovered.”_

_“You can’t own a person!”_

Chojiro shushed him, looking around, but the market was mostly empty, and no one was close enough to hear Yugo’s outburst.

 _“I know, son,”_ he said, sounding tired.   _“It’s a damn shame, that we can’t do anything to stop them from taking children away.”_

 _“What will they do with her?”_ Yugo asked, voice trembling.   _“Where will she go?”_

_“There’s only one place.  Academia. It’s where they keep and train windwitches, until they’re old enough to be assigned to a navy unit.”_

_“And how do I get there?”_

_“It’s a military secret,”_ Chojiro said, but he was already reaching under his booth and then passing a thin, threadbare scroll to Yugo.  He clutched Yugo’s hands before he could open in, fixing him with a stare. Yugo didn’t need Rin’s intuition to get the message.  Don’t open it here. _“I wouldn’t know.”_

_“Why do you have this?  Why do you know all of this?”_

Chojiro was already turning around.

 _“I’m old,”_ he said.   _“I’ve had a long enough life to regret most of it.”_

Yugo pulled another sheet of metal out of the way in the present.  Ah! This was perfect. He could use this to fix the streeting.

 _Rin doesn’t want this_ , he thought angrily, cutting his hand on another sharp piece of metal.   _Rin wanted to fly with me.  I have to go get her back_.

But first, he needed to find a way to leave his city and make his way to Academia.  And for that, he would need a dirigible. One that he could fly by himself.

 _One-person dirigibles are not meant for long flights_ , he could hear his memory-Rin saying in his head.   _You saw the map Chojiro gave you, you saw how far away Academia is.  You won’t have enough gas to get that far, even if you don’t get caught by the air patrol!_

 _This one definitely will_ , Yugo insisted to the memory-Rin _. It’s a little sad, but it remembers what it was like to fly, and once I remind it of how great it is, it’ll want to fly forever._

_Just because it wants to fly, doesn’t mean it can if it doesn’t have gas._

_Well I’ll make a wind generator, then, to make electricity instead._

_You don’t know how to do that, Yugo!_

_I’ll learn_ , Yugo thought with determination, biting hard into his lip and wincing past the pain.   _I’ll do whatever I have to find you again, Rin._


	4. The Future We Believed In

_The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams._

\- Eleanor Roosevelt

* * *

“Up, up, up, it’s already _morning_ , princesses!”

Rin grit her teeth and pushed her face into the deflated pillow.  Selena had already flung herself up and thrown herself out of the bunk beneath her, and was hurrying to grab her uniform.

“Rin,” she hissed.  “Rin, wake up.”

“What’s the worst they can do,” Rin growled into her pillow.  “Throw me in the basement again?”

Selena shifted from foot to foot while she dragged her coat over her shirt and started to button it up.

“You can’t deal with another week of not getting food,” she said in her matter-of-fact Selena sort of way.  “You can’t make another escape attempt if you don’t eat.”

Rin grimaced.  Selena knew her too well by now.

“And I don’t want to be alone in here for another week,” Selena said, a little more softly.

Rin sighed.  Selena meant well, she knew that.  Irritably, she pushed herself up. This bed was getting too small for her.  She was fifteen years old, and her growth spurt had hit hard. There wasn’t much to be done about it, though.

She swung herself off of the bunk.  Selena was already holding out her uniform for her, which appeared to have been folded into a neat pile.  She didn’t remember doing that. Neat-freak Selena must have done it. She accepted the uniform silently and began to pull it on.  Selena looked like she wanted to bolt, bouncing from foot to foot. But, Rin thought with a little bit of guilt, she waited for Rin.

Her uniform buttoned, she followed Selena out of their tiny dorm.  Selena immediately took a straight backed position, hands clasped behind her and head held up.  Down the hall, Rin could see the other girls, all lined up neatly outside their dorms in the thin hallway, standing tall and straight.  She thought about shoving her hands into her pockets and slouching, scowling when the drillmaster made her way down the hall.

But what good would that even _do_?  She’d been here two years and nothing she’d done had changed a thing.  She was no closer to escaping this prison than she had been at thirteen.

 _Yugo_ , she thought, writing her imaginary letters to him as always, as she gave up, and stood up straight like Selena.   _What are you doing right now?  Are you eating? Are you getting into trouble?  As much trouble as I’ve been getting into?_

Selena was right, she thought, as she stood tall and straight, earning a surprised look from the drillmaster when she marched past.  She was going at this all wrong. Maybe if she became a model student, the next attempt would go better. Maybe if she played along, bided her time just a little longer...she could find a way out.  Find a way back to Yugo.

 _I’m still waiting for you to find me_ , she thought.   _And I hope you’re all right, waiting for me to find you._

* * *

 _Come on girl,_ Yugo thought at the engine under his fingers.   _Come on.  You can do it._

It was no good.  The engine didn’t sparkle at all.  

Yugo resisted the urge to throw his wrench across the room.  That would scare the engine, if he got mad at it. Instead, he stroked the side of the tiny one-person ship gently, whispering soothing things.

_Don’t you want to get back out into the sky?  Wouldn’t that be great?_

It was no use.  This old dirigible was so low and sad.  It didn’t believe in itself anymore. Yugo sighed and crawled out, pulling himself back out into the junkyard.  He’d found a small spot that always seemed to get missed when they were clearing to dump, and it was the perfect place to hide his dirigible while he fixed it.  Well...while he _tried_ to fix it.  The old girl had lost so much mojo.  He didn’t know what had happened the last time she was in the air, or if it was being abandoned that had sapped all the excitement out of her, but one way or another, she wasn’t responding to him.

He looked her over.  He’d done a lot of work on her for the past two years, refitting her wings with some real nice quality stuff, Rin would have known what it was called.  It looked like the clear membrane of a dragonfly, and it shimmer in the light. The balloon had been repatched and welded, too, and he’d replaced all of the supports.  The casing was a mess of colored plates. He’d spray paint the name of the ship on her once she was running again. He was still deciding on a name.

That was if she ever started to run.  He hated to give up on any engine, but this one really just didn’t have any will to live in it anymore.  He might need to think about...finding another engine.

 _No_ , he thought stubbornly.   _I won’t give up on you.  Just like I won’t give up on her._

He put his hand on the machine, and tried to impress some of his feelings into it.  He felt the machine respond, but she was exhausted. It was like an old woman grudgingly smiling at your kindness, but really just not wanting to acknowledge it.  Yugo sighed.

“What can I do for you?” he begged quietly, pressing his forehead to the metal.  “What do you need? I want to help.”

She didn’t think much of him.  She knew he needed her to get to his friend, and she thought once he was done with her, he’d leave her in the trash again.

“I won’t!  I definitely won’t.  You’re big enough for me and Rin to fly in together, and we’ve always wanted to fly together!”

She didn’t even think she had it in her to make it as far as Yugo wanted her to go.

“I believe in you!  You’re a tough one!”

She was missing parts.  Parts that Yugo couldn’t get easily.

“I’ll find them!  I’ll...I promise! I’ll fix you!”

His tears were rolling down his cheeks.  He couldn’t save Rin. He couldn’t stop her from being taken away all those years ago.  And he couldn’t save this beautiful little ship either. She just wanted to die, alone, abandoned.  Was that how Rin felt? Did she feel like he had abandoned her?

He heard a faint horn pulsing over the island, and his head jerked up.  He knew that sound— that was a pirate warning. There had been a sighting.  Pirates? Here? It had been so long since anything had even been sighted!

His hands curled up against the metal as a plan occurred to him.

Pirates tended to fly old model schloops.  Like bigger versions of his mini dirigible, they’d be from similar eras, with similar parts.  They also tended to be running lots of illegal, old model parts in general. He swallowed.

A pirate ship like that would have the parts he needed.

Maybe the ship would be willing to lend them.

* * *

Every part of her burned like fire.  Rin stumbled a bit as she went through the line, her chipped tray clutched in shaking hands.

“You hanging in there?” Selena asked quietly.  They weren’t supposed to talk in the lunchroom, so Rin just nodded, biting down on her lip.

Drills had been hell today.  She felt pain skittering down her skin from where the ice from one of the other students had burned her.  Her whole brain was on fire from all of the temperature manipulation she’d been forced to practice, over and over until she’d forced the balloon to burst, even when she got too dizzy to see and nearly started vomiting.  And then there had been the worst part: the part where they made her stand in the loop of a rope and lowered the rope over the side of the island, letting her swing back and forth in the wind, seeing the flashes of green through the clouds beneath her.  Remembering in startling clarity the day she had almost thrown herself off, the panic of every gust of wind that swung her, the rope hooked into her foot and digging into her desperate hands the only thing preventing her from plummeting to her death.

 _“You’ll learn to fly eventually,”_ the drillmaster insisted.   _“And you learn best when you face death in the face.”_

That was all well and good, until they pulled her back up and she made a fool of herself by having a panic attack in front of everyone, throwing up on the ground twice in a row, and not being able to stand up for ten minutes for the shaking.

 _So much for the model student plan_ , she thought.

The flood was slopped onto her plate, in all its messy, greasy, disgusting glory.  She didn’t even know what the bits were in the...the stuff that she thought was oatmeal.

She grimaced, but she took her tray and walked silently to her assigned table, Selena behind her.

Yuzu looked up from across the table, and sent her what Rin thought was supposed to be a reassuring smile.  She didn’t really know Yuzu all that well. Actually, she didn’t really know anyone except Selena all that well, because she was barely allowed to talk to them.  Even after two years, she’d maybe heard a handful of words from Yuzu that weren’t her responding with a “yes ma’am” to the others.

Still, she was nice.  Rin had seen her smuggling bread into her sleeves to pass off in the halls later, to the girls who were punished to have no food and forced to sit in the corner of the cafeteria and watch everyone else eat.  She’d also caught her sending faraway smiles to rare patches of flowers on the edges of the training fields.

Her roommate, Ruri, was already at the other side of her, and she smiled at Rin too.  Ruri was sweet, too. Rin had caught her whistling at birds during a break in training, and lighting up when they whistled back.  She was always touching her neck and then looking surprised, as though there was supposed to be something there that wasn’t. And whenever Rin had her panic attacks, Ruri would always be there, rubbing her back and whispering softly, even when the drillmaster yelled at her to get away from her.  Rin knew a little bit more about Ruri because of that: she knew Ruri had a brother that she’d been taken away from, that she was missing someone, too.

There was only one other person at their table.  Masumi didn’t even look up, busy eating. She was hard for Rin to get a handle on.  She was as rigid and strict as Selena during training, not shying away from whatever the drillmasters asked of her.  But unlike a handful of others, she didn’t seem to take any joy in it. It was almost robotic. And when Rin had nearly tripped into a drillmaster once, Masumi had grabbed her by the collar and hauled her back.  They’d shared a brief look, then, and Rin had felt some strange comradery there. After that, Rin started to notice that Masumi would show off her superior grasp of her powers just when Rin needed the drillmasters’ attention off of her the most.

Rin took her seat, shared brief, sad smiles with the other girls, and began to eat.  The cafeteria was silent except for the clink and clatter of the dishes and silverware.  Ominously looming as always, the drillmasters stood at each aisle table, listening for the briefest bit of conversation.

Rin bristled as she hunched over her food.  This was disgusting. They weren’t even allowed to talk to each other— because if they did, the bastards knew they would be able to rise up against them.  There were more windwitches than there were drillmasters. So they did whatever they could to make sure they couldn’t band together.

 _Yugo, I miss you_ , she thought. _You wouldn’t take this.  You’d probably convince the engines holding up the island to take a break, so that the whole island would shift and scare everyone into a commotion, so that we could escape._

She had all these powers, and yet, she couldn’t use them to escape.  The minute she tried to do anything out of line, there’d be a drillmaster on her, jabbing a needle into her arm and sending her into a limp, useless pile of limbs.

The door to the cafeteria opened.  Everyone sat up bolt straight almost at once, and a pale tenseness flooded the room.  Almost at once, the temperature dropped three degrees, from about twenty-five young windwitches all going into panic, nervous mode all at once.

Three men in navy uniforms filed in, guns held in their hands.  Rin shivered. The three moved to the wall and let out a ‘hup’ as they took military positions up against the wall.

A moment later, the one they were escorting appeared.

Rin’s skin crawled.  She had never met the man before, but she had seen his face on the painting in the general’s office, when she’d been called in to have her punishments explained to her, and expected to apologize.

He smiled, but there was nothing lovely about it.  He was a sallow, greasy looking man, with a pale face, and pale blond hair, as though he were carved all out of flax.  The military uniform was tailored perfectly to fit him, even if it did have a really stupid purple cape.

“My apologies for the sudden intrusion,” the man said.  “But I was in the area, and I wanted to have a look at the newest class of our bravest warriors.”

There was no response.  The air dropped another degree, as eyes flickered around at other eyes, trying to gauge if they were supposed to be panicking or not.

Jean-Michel Roger, high commander of the Synchroncity Navy, smiled even wider.

“I’m sure most of you already know who I am,” he said. “But in a few years, I will be your highest commanding officer.”

Rin’s hands curled into fists into her lap.  This man— this man was the reason she was here.  He was the one who had started the windwitch protocols.

“And for that, I am pleased to make an announcement: for the next three weeks, I will be staying on at the island, and observing your training.  I’ll be watching for the very best recruits: they might even be able to find themselves on a crew before the end of the month, if they stand out.”

A few people tensed up at that.  Getting assigned to a navy unit was one of the only ways out of Academia.  Sure, you were basically enslaved to the ship for the rest of your life, but it meant freedom from these cloying walls, from claustrophobic dorm rooms, from nights locked in the leaking, swaying basement, from disgusting food that made you sick more often than it gave strength.

The man smiled even wider, and Rin felt like throwing up again.

“I see a very bright future ahead for our beautiful country,” he said.  “And I know you each will become a part of that future. I hope you are all thinking about how best to serve your country, and what futures you see for yourselves among Synchroncity’s navies.”

Rin stared straight ahead, wishing she could use her powers to freeze him from the inside out right now, wishing she was strong and fast enough for it.  Instead, she wrote another internal letter to Yugo.

_Yugo, I haven’t forgotten the future you gave me.  The one where we fly out into the sky and never come back.  I won’t be a part of this man’s future— I’m still waiting for ours._

* * *

Yugo couldn’t _believe_ his luck.  He had been _right_.  That was a pirate ship, docked at the lower port, just out of sight of the main searchlights!  It was midnight, and there she was, a beautiful, sleek little schloop, with a thin, aerodynamic balloon and powerful helium wings.  The cabin was big enough for a handful of dirigibles docked along the side, though this one only had one, it seemed, and also big enough to hold a crew of at least thirty.  It even had an open top deck!

Yugo bit his lip as he watched the shadows on the dock.  They were definitely unloading some kind of crates down there.  They might even be of the parts he needed. And if they weren’t in there...well, there was always the ship itself.  It looked like a close enough model to his dirigible, and a ship that big would definitely have spare parts for what he needed.

The real problem was just getting on board.

 _Pirates are dangerous, Yugo_ , his memory-Rin said.   _You need to stay away from them!  You’ll get hurt! They could kill you!_

Like usual, he did not take memory-Rin’s advice.  But it was nice to remember her scolding him about it.

Yugo made his way through the dark towards the ship.  He ducked behind a warehouse crate and looked around it.  One of the pirates oofed, putting down a heavy crate.

“Fuck me, this shit’s heavy,” he said in a drawling accent.  “Shinji, toss me a swig?”

“You don’t drink until we’re done,” said the other pirate out at the moment.  “Or you’ll fall off the gangway.”

Yugo swallowed.  They were both faced away from the open maw of the ship.  There might be someone in there, but...it was now or never.

Keeping himself low, Yugo bolted towards the open ship’s maw.  He didn’t know how much time he had before they took off. He had to get back to his dirigible quick, so that she wouldn’t think he’d given up on her.  Even this far away, he could sense her in his head— they’d become close enough over the last two years for him to sense her even from far away, and even talk to her.

_I’m getting the parts for you._

He actually got a faint twist of nervousness from his dirigible.  This was dangerous, wasn’t it?

_Doesn’t matter.  Gotta fix you up with what you need._

He pushed the rest of her protests away as he ducked into the ship, and leaped behind a crate.  He peeked out to see if there was anyone else in the loading area. Nope. Empty. He stuck to the edges, feeling his way gently in the dark.

The ship sensed him first.  It was surprised at his footfalls, new ones that it had never known.  What was he doing here?

 _Please_ , he begged quietly.   _I just want to fix my friend, and then find my other friend.  Do you have any extra bits? Anything you can spare?_

This ship was a bit of a feisty one, and it had a foreign edge to its soul.  It told him exactly what he could do with its extra parts. Yugo winced. Well, so much for finding a simple ship; this was one that had a lot of personality.  The people on board must have given this engine a lot of love.

He felt his way along the crates.  Maybe there would be parts in here?  His dirigible was getting insistent. This was very stupid of him.  He should just find another dirigible, one that actually worked. One that had all the parts already.  He needed to find his friend; he shouldn’t be wasting time with the dirigible. He was putting himself in danger!

 _No,_ Yugo thought.   _Because I already told you, didn’t I?  Mine and Rin’s future is fly into the sky together.  And you’re just right for that— you’re already a part of our future._

His thoughts cut off, then, when a hand knotted into his collar and he yelped, yanked into the air.  A cold, icy feeling crawled from the touch to his skin and he felt his breath getting sucked away, like it had that day two years ago when Rin had attacked those men.

“H-hey!” he gasped, squirming and kicking from the grip.  “Hey!”

“And what do we have here?” said a woman’s voice, with the same foreign accent as the pirates outside.  “What do you think you’re doing here, hm?”

“I— I’m sorry!  I wasn’t stealing!”

“Oh?  I didn’t ask if you were stealing.  Sounds like a confession. Do you know what we do with thieves, little boy?  Pirates throw thieves over the side of the ship.”

Yugo kicked and swayed from her grip, but she was getting colder again and he could see his breath against the darkness.

“Please!!” he shouted.  “I—I promise, I wasn’t going to take anything important, I just needed some parts!”

“Parts?” the woman said.

Yugo was crying now.  He had been so close! He was so close to finding Rin, so close to having his way there.

“They were for our future,” he mumbled incoherently.  “They were for our future. I just wanted to see it with her.”

And that was when he heard the roar.

The woman stiffened, and her hand released him, letting him collapse to the ground.  Outside, he heard one of the pirates swear, and the other shout _what the hell is that—_ and then there was a hot, buzzing hum in the back of his head chasing away the cold, and he turned around towards the dim light outside to see the most beautiful and shocking thing he had ever seen.

She was so pretty, he thought, his mouth dropping open.  His little dirigible was careening around the corner, her wings spread and shining, every bit of light from behind her shining clear through the prism membranes.   _Clear wings._  

Yugo shot to his feet and bolted to the open mouth of the ship.  The little dirigible was struggling now that it had made it here, spluttering and dipping up and down.  It was small enough to fit into the maw of the ship, and it dipped and skidded against the floor as Yugo ran to meet it.

“Y-You...you...” Yugo gasped, spluttering.  “You _flew!_ You flew!  I knew you had it in you!!  I knew it, I knew it! I knew you could do it!”

He was the most frustrating little boy she had ever had the misfortune of meeting.  She was very irritable. The big ship was protesting and swearing at them, it hadn’t said it was okay with her barging in like that, after all, not at all!

Yugo heard the click of a gun, and he froze.  He turned back around.

The woman was barely visible, just a sliver of her pale face, and a bit of her dark maroon hair done up in twin tails.  She was considering him with her gun pointed at him, and he froze.

“Who’s in the ship?” she said.

“N-no one.”

“Your friend needs to come out of the ship.”

“I’m telling you!  There’s no one inside!”

“So you’re telling me the ship flew by itself?”

“She was scared for me!  She was coming to see if I was all right!”

The dirigible rumbled under his hands.  She couldn’t fly much, but she wanted to ram the woman if she didn’t stop pointing that gun at Yugo.

Yugo heard footsteps, boots clomping into the ship.

“Ray!  What the _fuck_?” he heard someone swear.

“Kid’s not saying anything.  Open up the dirigible, pull out whoever’s inside.”

“I’m telling you, there’s no one!”

He whipped around to see one of the pirates hauling open the dirigible’s doors.  He reached one arm inside, and then his face changed. He blinked, frowned. Shoved his head inside up to his shoulders.  When he came back up, his orange hair was a frizzy mess.

“He’s not lying,” he said.  “There’s no one in there, Ray.”

The woman, Ray, looked shocked.  Her gun slipped. Then she narrowed her eyes, humming.

“Come on,” she said.  “I think you’re going to meet the captain, kid.”

 


	5. The One We'll Never Leave Behind

_Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too--even when you’re in the dark. Even when you’re falling._

_-_ Mitch Albom

* * *

Clear Wing (his new name for his little dirigible, he’d decided just then), was not at all happy about Yugo getting bundled away, but Yugo assured her that he’d be fine, and to stay in the loading dock so she wouldn’t annoy the pirate’s ship any more than she already was.

Yugo yelped and protested a few times at the orange-haired man’s pretty tough grip, but it didn’t do much to loosen it.  He was led down a series of thin, confusing hallways— this ship was built in a strange way, like pieces and sections had been added on over time.  Eventually, however, they reached the bridge.

“What is all the noise about?” he heard an irritable voice say.  He also had a bit of a foreign accent, but it wasn’t quite the same as the others.

“We had a problem,” the woman, Ray, said.

“You know I hate when you start with that.  Who’s this?”

Yugo blinked at the change in lighting; the halls had all been dim and dark, and the bridge was brightly lit so that it almost blinded him.  He squinted a moment, and then the silhouette became visible.

He was way tall, like, looming.  He had fair, tanned skin, and his blond hair was sorta spiked back.  His long, billowing coat was the brightest white he’d ever seen, and it didn’t have a single mark, tear, or stain that he could see.  The man’s eyes narrowed down at Yugo, still clutched in the orange haired man’s grip.

“He snuck on board trying to steal things,” Ray said.

“Then throw him back off,” the captain said, because this _had_ to be the captain.  “I’m not running a babysitting service here.  We don’t have time to mess with street kids.”

He glowered at Yugo, and Yugo suddenly felt very, very small.  He tried to puff himself up anyway, though, not willing to look intimidated.

“Okay, but it was weird,” the orange-haired man said.  “When Ray had ‘im cornered, this dirigible just zoomed after him all by itself.”

The man blinked, lips parting.  He looked down at Yugo with a different glint in his eyes.

“Remote controlled?” he asked.

“No,” the other man said, the one with the dark bluish purple hair.  “I checked; there was none of that kind of tech on board, and he doesn’t have any trackers on him.”

“Clear Wing came because she was worried about me!” Yugo said.

“Hey, shush,” the orange-haired man said.  He actually said it pretty gently, like he was trying to calm Yugo down.  “You can talk in a minute.”

“No, wait.  I want to hear this,” the captain said, narrowing his eyes at Yugo.  “What do you mean, she came because she was worried? Your ship has a mind of its own?”

The dark-haired man snorted.

“It’s not a joke!” Yugo said, glaring at him.  “ _Every_ machine can think.  Just not everybody listens.”

His memory-Rin was scolding him for telling these pirates about what she had always called his “gift.”   _No one else can do what you do, Yugo.  It’s not safe to tell people. They might hurt you._

The captain, however, was considering him, one hand coming up to his chin.

“Ray?” he said finally, looking at the woman.

She shrugged.

“Never heard of anyone who could talk to machines,” she said.  “It’s not a windwitch thing, that’s for sure.”

Yugo shot straight up.

“Windwitch?  You know about windwitches?”

Every eye shot to him, looking at him with varying degrees of cold suspicion.

“Kid, you might wanna stop talking while you’re ahead,” the orange-haired man cautioned, but Yugo couldn’t be stopped now, and he squirmed in the man’s grip.

“My friend is one!  She got taken away, and I’m trying to save her!”

The suspicion on Ray’s face immediately vanished, and instead, her whole face softened and her shoulders slumped.

“Oh, no,” she breathed.  “She was taken to Academia, wasn’t she?”

“Yeah!! Do you know about it?” Yugo said.  “That’s why I needed the parts, for Clear Wing, my ship!  So I could go and get her.”

“Impossible,” said the dark-haired man.  “Academia’s location is one of the most closely guarded secrets in the goddamn sky.  Even Ray can’t remember where it is.”

“I have a map!” Yugo said stubbornly.  “I’m going to find Rin, no matter what!”

The room’s electricity changed yet again, and the orange-haired man actually let go of Yugo.

“You have a _map_?” Crow said.  “With Academia’s location?”

“Where did you get something like that?” the captain demanded.

Yugo almost answered, and then he remembered the look on Chojiro’s face when he had passed the map to him, and decided not to.

“It’s a secret,” he said, folding his arms.

“And do you _have_ this map on you?” Ray asked.

Yugo absolutely did not want to give it up.  It was the only thing he had to help him find Rin.  But he automatically twitched his hand towards his inside pocket, and the dark-haired man stepped forward to grab him.  Yugo yelped and squirmed, but the man managed to get his hand inside Yugo’s jacket and drag the map out from where he always kept it.  

Yugo tried to grab it back, but the orange-haired man took him by the shoulders to hold him back while the other man flapped it out, turning the parchment towards the other two.  A brief moment of silence fell over the room while they examined it.

The crew all looked at each other.  The whole room was more tense than a steering suspension, and Yugo’s throat felt dry.  He wasn’t being held anymore, but there was no way he could get away. They all had guns.

“So,” the captain said finally.  “What we have here is a random street kid, who can talk to machines, and who has a map to Academia.”

“Jack, this is what we’ve been looking for for years,” Ray said, her voice tight.

“And you’re going to trust this kid?” the dark-haired man said.

“He doesn’t strike me as spy material,” the orange-haired man said, looking him up and down.

“Still could be a plant.  A trap of some kind.”

“Hey!” Yugo said.  “I’m right here, you know!”

They all looked at him again.

“Good point,” the captain said dryly.  “Crow, put him in one of our empty rooms for now.  We’ll discuss this and decide what to do.”

“All right,” Crow said, taking Yugo firmly by the arm again.

“Hey!” Yugo said.  “I don’t have time to be a prisoner, you know!  I have to get back to saving Rin!”

“Sorry kid, you’re on our timetable now,” Crow said, and he did actually sound apologetic.  “Don’t worry. We’re not the type to discuss our plans too long.”

* * *

The atmosphere was the worst it had ever been.  Ruri kept her eyes straight forward, not even glancing at the birds that alighted on the rooftops.  Yuzu looked like she was going to be sick all the time. Rin heard Masumi in the bathroom throwing up and sobbing, whispering ‘sorry’ over and over to no one.  At night, Rin could hear Selena crying into her pillow.

The commander being here was the worst thing that could possibly happen, and Rin could taste it on the air.  Drills increased to five times a day instead of three. Meals weren’t increased, and Rin constantly felt faint.  She nearly collapsed during one of their formation drills, but she was glad she didn’t, because the girl that had had been beaten in front of everyone.  Roger hadn’t stopped smiling the whole time, and Rin wanted to vomit on him. Maybe that would wipe the smug look off of his face.

She did vomit at least once, into a bin during her single bathroom break that day.  She’d just sat there on her knees, trembling and crying, her whole body twitching from all of the overwork she’d done all day.  The ice under her skin was getting sluggish and drained, and she could barely keep up with the wind casting practice.

“You’re quite talented.  What’s your name?”

Rin saw the way Selena completely froze up when she was called out, could see the nervous frost gathering on her eyelashes when she saw that Roger was looking straight at her.

“Selena, sir,” she said, however, standing very straight and proper.

Roger smiled at her, and Rin could almost see Selena’s hands trembling behind her back where they were clasped.  He patted her on the shoulder.

“Ah, you’re one of the ones who have been here the longest.  Your effort shows.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“I might have a place for you on my own ship very soon.”

Selena forced a thin smile.

“Thank you, sir.  I’m honored.”

Rin could hear her shuddering and crying in the bunk underneath her that night.

“I don’t want to go,” she whispered.  “Rin, I’m scared, I don’t want to go.”

“It’s a way off this shitty island,” Rin said, staring at the ceiling.

“He scares me, Rin.  I’m scared.”

Rin trembled, too, and didn’t know what to say to Selena.

“You know, I used to believe in this,” Selena whispered.  “I used to really, really believe in this. Fighting for the good of the country and all that.  Using my powers to protect everyone. But that’s not what we do at all.”

Rin didn’t know what to say.  She was starting to cry, too.

“I was the only one here, for a while.  I did what I was told and everything was fine.  But then the other girls came, and they were all crying, and begging to go home, and I didn’t understand.  I didn’t get it until they started beating girls who just wanted to go home, who never chose to be here. Until they made me join them on a practice mission and I saw them bombing a city that hadn’t done anything wrong and told me to freeze everything and I didn’t know what to do.  Rin, I don’t want to be here anymore. But there’s nowhere else for me.”

Rin’s tears rolled down her cheeks onto the pillow.   _Yugo, Yugo, Yugo,_ she thought over and over again.   _I wanted to fly with you, Yugo, I wanted to fly away and never come back_.

She pushed her hands against her eyes.

“Yugo is going to come and get me,” she said out loud, before she realized what she was saying.  “H-he’s....he’s going to come to get me, because he’d never give up on me. I know he wouldn’t. He’d find a way.”

Selena sniffled.

“A-and Yuzu’s dad that she never talks about but we know she has will come for her too.  And Ruri’s big brother will come and find her, and Masumi’s friends will bring her back home, and everyone will leave.”

“No one’s looking for me,” Selena whispered.

“I am,” said Rin.  “S-so...so when Yugo comes to get me...he’ll come to get you too.”

Selena sniffled.  For a long time, they both just laid there, crying.

“Thank you,” Selena whispered.

But it was obvious that she didn’t believe anyone was coming.

* * *

Yugo spent a very restless night, pacing and dozing off in the tiny crew room he’d been locked into.  If the pirates’ ship had been more accommodating, he could have gotten the door open, but it was being very contrary and spent most of their conversations insulting him with a childish glee.

“That is _rude_ , and your crew should be ashamed of themselves for teaching you to swear like that!” Yugo was shouting when the door opened.

Crow stood there, staring and blinking at him.  Then he grinned, stretching the golden marks tattooed across his face.

“Talking to the ship?” he said.

“I’m not delirious or anything, so I’m not talking to myself,” Yugo grumbled, folding his arms.  “Am I allowed to go now?”

“Not quite.  Come on, we’ve got a proposition to make for ya.”

Crow held the door open for Yugo, and Yugo eyed him suspiciously before walking out.  Crow led him back through the confusing corridors until they reached the bridge again.  There were more people than before, but not by much. There was Jack, the captain; the dark-haired man who’s name Yugo still hadn’t gotten; Ray and another woman with long blond hair who frowned at Yugo; and a trio of little kids behind one of the chairs, staring at Yugo and whispering loudly.

Crow clapped a hand onto Yugo’s shoulder, grinning at the crew.

“Well?  Am I gonna tell him, or is the captain gonna?”

“What?  Tell me what?” Yugo said.

Jack had the map to Academia laid out on the little table in the middle of the bridge, and he had his hands planted against it.  He looked up at Yugo.

“We’re planning a raid,” he said.  “We’re breaking into Academia. Are you in?”

Yugo’s mouth dropped open. For a moment, he just stared at them.

Two years, he thought.  He’d been working for two years to get to Academia.  And now, suddenly, he was face to face with the craziest, tiniest little group of pirates he had ever seen— seriously, was this the whole crew?  Was this everyone to fly this whole ship? — and they were telling him that they were going.

They were going to get Rin.

Yugo’s throat was so dry he couldn’t respond right away.

“This isn’t a free ride,” Jack said, lip curling.  “You’ll do your part for the ship like everyone else.  And if you can fly that dirigible of yours, we’re going to need it for the plan.  So if you’re in, you are _all_ in.  You’re a part of this crew, on this mission, or you’re not, and you’re staying on the island.”

“What are you gonna do at Academia?” Yugo blurted, nearly cutting Jack off.  “What are you gonna— what are you gonna do with the windwitches?”

So close.  He was so close.  But...but these were _pirates_.  And windwitches were powerful, really sought after people.  If they had them, would they keep Rin imprisoned here, and make her fly their ships for them instead of the navy doing it?

It was Ray who sent him a huge, dazzling smile.

“We’re going to break them out,” she said. “We’ve been looking to save them for years.  And you brought us the way to save them.”

“We’ll find safe places for them,” the dark-haired man said.  “The navy, nor any other pirates, won’t touch them again.”

This was almost too good to be true.  Yugo just gaped again for another minute.  Crow laughed, clapping Yugo hard on the back.

“Well, kid?” he said.  “You in, or you out?”

“My name is _Yugo_ , not kid!” Yugo said irritably.  “And— and yes! Of course I’m in! I’m all in!!”

Jack smirked at him, standing up straight.

“Welcome aboard then, Yugo,” he said.  “Let’s get flying.”

* * *

Three days of this was already hell.  Could they last the last of his three week stay?  Three girls had had breakdowns already, and had to be sedated and locked up.  At least five others had underperformed, and been punished for it. Rin was barely keeping up.  She had to. She couldn’t afford to get beaten, or punished, or ruin her chances of her next escape.

She forced herself to walk steadily towards training when she heard the sobbing in the bathroom.

It had only been three days of this.  Rin felt like buckling.

 _Yugo is coming_ , she told herself.   _He...he will come._

It had been two years with no sign of him, but...but it could take that long to find a ship that Yugo could fly this far.  It might take that long of him stowing away from ship to ship, to find out even where they were hidden. He was trying to find her.  She knew he was.

She curled her hands into fists, and turned towards the bathroom.

“Hey,” she whispered through the door.  “Hey. It’s going to be okay. My friend is coming to find us.  He’ll help us.”

The voice on the other end of the door went quiet abruptly.  Rin’s heart squeezed in her chest so that she could barely breathe.  Talking to another windwitch was the surest way to get in trouble, but no one was around to hear her.  She kept talking.

“His name is Yugo.  He’s the most resourceful person I’ve ever met, and he’s already saved my life once.  He can talk to machines, and they’ll be able to tell him where we are. He’ll find us, and he’ll break us out.”

The girl on the other side of the door swallowed.

“How do you know?” she heard the faint, whispering voice.

Rin’s hands curled against the door.

“Because Yugo would never let me down.  And I won’t let him down either.”

She pressed her forehead to the door for a breath.  Then she turned and walked back down the hallway, stronger and straighter this time.

Day four.

Ruri stumbled during a formation.  Rin managed to grab her and haul her back into place, and she caught the hint of tears in her eyes.

“Don’t worry,” Rin whispered to her.  “Yugo is coming for us. We’re going to get out of here.”

Ruri looked quickly at her, eyes bulging with surprise.  But she couldn’t ask a question, and the formation continued.

_Yugo is coming, Yugo is coming, Yugo is coming._

_I can’t give up before then._

We _can’t give up before then._

Day five.

Masumi looked like she was going to throw up just looking at her food, her eyes bloodshot and red from crying.  Rin touched her elbow lightly when she sat down, earning a startled look.

“Don’t worry,” Rin said again in a low voice that only Masumi would hear over the clatter of trays, the words becoming a mantra the more she said them.  “Yugo is coming to find us.”

Day six.

Rin heard a girl whispering in the hallway when she headed back to her room at the end of the hall, and she looked back.  Yuzu was whispering to the girl across the hall, and Rin caught the words: _Yugo is coming._

Rin smiled.

Her spell was catching on.

Day seven.  One week of hell.

Rin saw people glancing at her when she walked out onto the training field.  No one whispered, but she knew they were shooting her glances, and she thought maybe they had gotten the rumor out too.  She saw someone nearly stumble during an individual kata, a punishable offense. She saw someone else twitch their fingers, and quick breeze pushed the girl back onto her feet imperceptibly.  She saw someone mouth _Yugo_ at someone else.

He was coming for them.  He was absolutely coming to find them, and when he did, he wouldn’t just save Rin, he was too good for that.  He would find a way to save them all.

She had to keep them all safe and strong until he got there.

Day eight.

Yugo might _not_ be coming, she thought treacherously.  It wouldn’t be his fault. He was young when they were separated, there was only so much a kid like him could do on his own.  He could have gotten hurt. He could have gotten arrested. The navy might have done something to him to prevent him from telling anyone about windwitches.

No.  He’d come.  He’d definitely come.  And if he didn’t...

Rin would break everyone out herself.

Day nine.

Roger was picking out certain girls who stood out, and having them spar each other.

“No holding back, now,” he said with his awful cheery smile.  “I want you to pretend this is a real life or death battle.”

Ruri and Selena stared at each other with a faint  horror from across the training field.

Rin saw Selena mouth something.   _Yugo_.  Ruri swallowed, and nodded.  She took a battle stance and started to call the wind to her.

Rin thought about something.  All of the windwitches were girls.  All of their handlers were men, save a few, and the women had never used any powers on them.  They’d always just grabbed them and sedated them the second they looked to be doing something.  Everyone was distracted by the fight that Selena and Ruri were about to have, and there were twenty-five witches to only about fifteen navy officers.

Rin stepped forward, out of line, and everyone, all at once, looked straight at her.

“Actually,” she said.  “I’d like to spar.”

“Wait your turn,” Roger said, looking, for once, irritated.  “Get back in line.”

“No,” Rin said.  “I don’t think I will.”

One of the handlers was coming towards her, and she could hear another one right behind her, coming quickly.  She didn’t know what was going to happen. She didn’t know if she had the support she thought she did. She’d barely been able to talk to anyone, and she didn’t know how far Yugo’s rumor had traveled.

But she was tired.  And win or lose, it was time to do something.

She put her fist into the air.

“Yugo and all of our friends and family are coming to take us back,” she said.  “And when they get here, we’re going to be ready to greet them.”

She caught the glint of a syringe.  She turned towards them. Rin was ready for them, ready to fight until she went down, by herself if need be— but she didn’t have to be.

Yuzu flung herself out of line, locked her arms around the man’s chest, and instantly froze him solid.  For the briefest breath, the whole field went utterly silent, as though time had stopped.

And then Selena let out a cry.  Wind exploded around her, busting through her ponytail holder and sending her hair in a flurry around her head.  Ruri twisted around and sent a giant gust at the three men running towards them. Rin spun around to see Masumi scuffling with the guard that had been coming up from behind, his arms frozen solid already and shattering when he yanked free of Masumi’s grip.

Heat and cold burst on both sides of her, temperatures leaping up and down in all directions.  The entire field had gone wild. Rin saw rather than heard Roger shouting, saw several of the guards who hadn’t jumped right in going for their guns.  She froze the air around her hands and sent the most cutting, biting, freezing wind she could manage at them. Their guns froze in their hands.

An explosion rocked the island, and Rin screamed, falling to the ground.  What was that? A bomb? An airship? She hadn’t planned for more navy reinforcements— she hadn’t planned for anything.  Like Yugo would have.

Another boom and rock, and Rin gathered the wind to throw herself back to her feet.  She looked up at the sky, cloudy and gray, for some sign of the cause.

Three small shadows dropped down from the sky, wings buzzing— mini dirigibles, she thought, blanching.  She couldn’t tell if they had mounted weapons, but it definitely could be. They might have had a second ship up above specifically for this purpose, in case they decided to try their luck.  She was so stupid! She was going to get them all killed!

Rin gathered up her wind, planning to try and gust the dirigibles back.  Another explosion rocked the island and she stumbled. She looked up towards the direction of this one, and gaped.

That, she thought, was not a navy ship.

The skull and crossbones flew huge and black over the ship’s mast.  She paled. Navy, and now pirates? Were they here to kidnap them, too?  Did they have two enemies? She heard the buzz of the descending dirigibles, and looked up frantically, uncertain of where to aim her wind.

The dirigibles were close enough to see, now when a head poked up and out of the tiny cabin, crawling themselves out onto the top to take point on the little gun in the front.  Rin inhaled. She released the wind in her hands and sent it down to her feet instead, launching herself into the air.

For a small, beautiful moment, she was flying.  

And then Yugo’s hand grabbed hold of hers, and they both yelped, nearly pulling his dirigible out of the sky, before she swung upwards and around to the back of it, settling right behind him and burying her face into his back.

“Rin!  Are you okay?” Yugo shouted back over his shoulder.

Rin grabbed hold of him— he was solid, he was warm, and she could smell the grease and oil that clung to him, and he was real.

“I knew you wouldn’t make a liar out of me,” she mumbled into his chest, tears blurring her eyes.  “I knew you wouldn’t.”


	6. The Song About Us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two chapters today because i forgot yesterday lol

_Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought._

\- E.Y. Harburg

* * *

It had been two years since Rin had heard so much beautiful, happy noise.

The entirety of the pirates’ airship, Wheel of Fortune, was alight with laughter and shouts and girls running up and down the hallways just because they finally could.

“I’m really okay,” Rin insisted, but Ray was not having it.

“No one leaves this med bay until I say so,” Ray said.  “You’ve got some really bad ice burns.”

“They don’t hurt.”

“You don’t feel the cold as much as you should.  It’s one of our ‘talents’, but that doesn’t mean it’s not harmful.  You don’t move until Asuka and I are done with you.”

Rin huffed, irritated at being told what to do.  Ray’s hands were soft and gentle though.

Yuzu sent Rin a cross-eyed grin from the other table, where the other pirate windwitch, Asuka, was tending to her.  It was the brightest look she’d seen on Yuzu in years, and it was relaxing.

Outside the door, Yugo was fidgeting.  Ray had ordered him out, but he had taken that very literally and just stood right outside the threshold, waiting for Rin to be released.  Rin sent him a smile to reassure him, and also just because she was bubbling up with smiles and couldn’t stop.

The pirates were, well, not what she expected pirates to be.  They’d come to their rescue, for one thing. For another thing, they had two rogue windwitches of their own.  Rin had been awed at the majestic destruction the two of them were capable of. Roger had escaped, unfortunately, and she’d heard the captain discussing it angrily with some of the others.  But beyond that, all of them had been surprisingly welcoming. After two years of fearing every adult within a mile of her, it was refreshing. Crow had snagged her off of Yugo’s dirigible as soon as they had landed and held her carefully, asking if she was okay.  She’d seen Shinji leap right into the fight with his guns, taking out several navy members and grabbed two girls who’d been sedated over his shoulders and carrying them back. Rin had watched Asuka face down three guns to rescue an injured Yuzu. And the captain himself, who had put the whole crew on the line for their rescue, had taken the time to stop and talk to each one of them while Asuka and Ray took care of the girls, asking if they were all right, reassuring them that they were safe, and promising to help them all go home safely.  They weren’t even being expected to help around the ship, he had insisted that they all needed to rest from their imprisonment.

Rin couldn’t remember ever feeling so safe anywhere in the world.

“All right, fine, you can go,” Ray finally said.  “But I’m checking in on you later!”

“Yes, ma’am,” Rin said, bolting off the table and half running over to Yugo.

She grabbed him in another massive hug and he grabbed her right back.  This time, Rin didn’t want to let go. She buried her face into his neck and breathed in the heavy scent of engines.  She was so sore and it kind of ached to hug him, but she didn’t care.

“I missed you,” she said.

“I missed you so much,” Yugo said, and he was already blubbering again, crying into her hair.  What a big crybaby, she thought, her eyes filling up with tears.

“I’m sorry it took so long.”

“Oh, shut up.  You came for me.  That’s what matters.”

They stood there in the hallway for a few more minutes.  Then Rin heard the squeak of a shoe, and she looked up to see Yuzu leaving the medbay next.  She smiled widely at the two of them when Rin let go of Yugo, her hand sliding down to grab his hand.

“So you’re Yugo?” she said.  

“Uh?  Yeah?” Yugo said, blinking.  He was two years older, but his dumb confused face looked as dorky as always.  Yuzu smiled again and grabbed his free hand in both of hers.

“Thank you,” she said softly.

Then she smiled and nodded at Rin, winked, and skipped off down the hallway.  Yugo watched her go with his mouth hanging open.

“What was that for?” he said, looking at Rin.  “You know, a lot of the other girls knew me too.  They kept saying thank you and giving me hugs and stuff?”

Rin laughed, nestling her head against his shoulder and leaning against him.

“I’ll explain later,” she said.  “Just stay with me right now.”

Yugo nodded with a smile, dropping his head against her hair and just breathing in for a moment.

“Oh!” he said suddenly, shooting up.  “You’ve gotta meet Clear Wing!!

“Clear Wing?”

“Yeah, The Clear Wing?  The dirigible we rode out of there!  You’ve got to meet her, she’s been pretty anxious to get an introduction.”

Yugo dragged Rin down the hall, and it was so beautifully nostalgic that she nearly cried again.  She ran after him, feeling a laugh bubbling in her chest that didn’t yet release. She was still so heady with freedom.  They were gone from that awful place, and Yugo was holding her hand again, and they were alive.

Yugo burst out into the deck along with Rin, and the wide blue sky opened up to them.  Rin’s breath left her once again at the sight of it. It just never ended. It was vast and open and free, wisps of fluffy white clouds curling past them.  Far below, she could see more than just snatches of green, she could see entire blurred, rolling fields of it, could see the stain of mountains and the dark swatch of thick trees.  They were flying. They really were flying.

The deck was full of people, mostly her fellow windwitches.  Some of them were sprawled out on the deck on their backs to stare up at the sky.   A couple leaned over the railings, pointing at the things they could see below. She could see Masumi up in the rigging with one of the pirates, she thought she remembered that was Crow.  And Selena was poring over the top deck navigational instruments on the upper deck with the pirate she thought was named Shinji, looking fascinated and excited. She looked up at the sound of Yugo and Rin’s arrival, and burst into a big smile, waving ecstatically at them.

Rin waved back, and when she looked back down, many of the other windwitches were looking at the pair of them, smiling and waving.  Yugo looked mystified, and Rin just laughed. It would be a fun story to tell him later, about how she’d used his name to give herself hope, and then to give everyone else hope, too.  But she wasn’t sure she had the energy to tell it yet. Right now, she just wanted to be with him.

“So where’s The Clear Wing?” she asked.

“Right!  She’s docked over here.”

Yugo tugged her along over to the little dirigible.  None of The Wheel of Fortune’s dirigibles looked like they belonged to the ship— actually, none of The Wheel of Fortune’s parts for the ship itself looked like they went together like it had been cobbled together out of a junkyard.  But Yugo’s definitely stood out: The Clear Wing was sleek and beautiful. It had been patched up with new sheet metal, but Yugo had spray painted the whole thing a beautiful platinum. Its wing membranes looked spun out of gold and cerulean thread, like a dragonfly’s wings.  She was a very proud looking ship, Rin thought, reaching out to run a hand down her side.

“Clear Wing, this is Rin!  This is the friend I came to find,” Yugo said.

“She’s beautiful,” Rin said.

Yugo beamed.

“I knew you’d think so!  See, Clear Wing, didn’t I tell you?”

She shimmered silently, but judging by the way Yugo beamed more, Clear Wing had responded well.

“She likes you,” Yugo said.  “She’s looking forward to flying with you.”

“I’m looking forward to flying with her, too,” Rin said with a smile.

Freedom, she thought as she left her hand against the warm, sleek metal.  That’s what The Clear Wing looked like. She looked like freedom. The freedom that had been denied her for years was finally here, in her grasp, and held between their still clasped hands.

Somewhere in the rigging, Rin heard Ruri start to sing.  She and Yugo both looked up towards the crow’s nest, and Rin could see Ruri’s hair flying back in the breeze in beautiful waves.  Everyone stopped what they were doing on deck to look up towards the sound of her voice: light and gentle, spiraling down through the wind and up on the updrafts.

Rin leaned her head against Yugo’s shoulder and closed her eyes.  He wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“Thank you for finding me,” she said.  “Thank you for finding all of us.”

Ruri’s song spun between them, the sound of freedom and the wind in their hair.  Yugo squeezed her.

“Thank you for waiting for me.”


	7. The Listener's Glade

_Trees are the earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven._

\- Rabindranath Tagore

* * *

 

“The surface?  We’re going to the surface?”

Yugo could hear Rin only barely holding back the excitement in her voice.   He felt like vibrating with excitement, too.

It had been three months since they escaped Academia, and left it far behind.  Most of the windwitches had been dropped off at their homes, had tearful reunions with their families and friends, and equally teary goodbyes with the girls they had fought for their freedom alongside.  Yugo had watched awkwardly while Rin very silently cried and hugged Yuzu, and waved to her until she disappeared from sight, and when Ruri had kissed Rin on the forehead and said something to her in a language Yugo had never heard, before running to meet with her brother and mothers.  Selena was the only girl from Rin’s class who stayed on the ship, and Rin seemed a bit sad without them.

The windwitches were safely ferried home, and were passed off information to safe places they could go, allies they could call on if they needed help again.  It seemed that Jack and the Wheel of Fortune wasn’t the only crew sailing the skies and fighting back against the navy, they were only one of many, and there were still more pockets rising up and declaring independent states, united against the navy’s iron grip.  It still boggled Yugo’s mind, that somehow he’d ended up involved in all of this. He’d just wanted to save Rin, and now he was on board the ship of a group of leading rebels, some of the most wanted people in the skies.

“We need to touch down, make a couple of stops, fuel up,” Crow said, spreading out the map on the table.  “Don’t be too excited, it’s not all that special down there. Flying’s way better.”

“It’s _green_ ,” Rin said.  “There’s nowhere in the skies so green.”

“And it’s one of the last places in the world without a majority navy influence,” Asuka pointed out.  “So that’s a plus.”

“You guys are crazy,” Crow said.  “Nowhere’s better than where you can always feel the wind in your hair. Landlocking sucks.”

“I’ve never been before,” Rin said.  “I’ve never been anywhere where there’s solid ground.  Does it look as endless on the ground as it does from above?”

“Depends on where you land,” Ray said, smiling and patting her shoulder.  “Just hold tight for a bit, and you’ll see it for yourself.”

Rin smiled so brightly that Yugo’s heart soared, and he automatically reached for her hand.  She automatically reached back, gripping it.

“Are you excited?” she asked.

“I’m excited to go anywhere with you,” he said.

“Sap!” she said, laughing and bumping into him.

*    * *

They had to stay inside the ship while they went down.  Something about not being used to the pressure or air quality down below, and being inside the cabins of the Wheel of Fortune would help normalize them.  The Wheel of Fortune was being very noisy today, complaining about aches and pains and the inconvenience of needing to be set down on the ground. Clear Wing was much more amiable; she remembered the earth, remembering being used for short flights between cities and speeding along the ground so that the world became a blur of green and blue, and it was a beautiful image that made Yugo more excited than ever.  He was fit to burst by the time Shinji popped open the doors and told them they could leave.

Rin was out to the deck first, bolting to the railings with Yugo only seconds behind her.  They both bumped into the railing and leaned over as far as they could to see where they had landed. Selena was more cautious, following the two of them and putting her hands on the railings to peer down below.

It was more the novelty of it than anything that made Yugo gape with awe.  He’d never seen land like this: coated with thick, green grass, not just the dry sparse brown he remembered from home. The houses were all short and squat and made of dirt, with thick brown grass thatching their roofs.  Not a thing like the metal and steel skyscrapers of home.

“Go on down,” Ray said, startling them.  Yugo jumped and then blushed at his surprise.  “Go ahead and explore if you’d like; this is a safe town and they’re used to visitors.”

“You don’t need help on the ship?” Rin said.

Ray flashed them all a grin and a wink.

“We’ll take you up on that later, but this is your first time on the surface.  Go ahead and enjoy it.”

“All right!” Yugo said, punching the air with excitement.  “Thanks, Miss Ray!”

Selena looked a little more nervous, and hung back.

“I...I think I’ll stay and help for now,” she said.

Ray seemed to understand, and nodded.  Rin and Yugo, however, couldn’t wait any longer.  Rin hit the ladder first and slid down, waving to Selena.  Yugo slid down after her.

“Now don’t wander _too_ far!” Ray called.  “Don’t get lost! And keep your wits about you!”

Rin threw her hand upwards in a signal of recognition, but she was too busy forging straight ahead towards the trees instead of towards the town.  Yugo followed excitedly. He’d never seen a tree before.

“Whoa,” Rin whispered when they reached them.  They had to crane their heads back to see the canopy of leaves over head.  “It’s huge!”

She leaned forward, touching the bark tentatively, as though it might bite.  Yugo tugged off his gloves to put his hands on the trunk, too.

“It’s all bumpy!” he said. “Whoa.  What’s this soft stuff?”

He ran his fingers over a thin layer of soft green clinging to the bark, and Rin came over to look at it.

“It’s growing on the tree,” Rin said, looking shocked.  “Don’t plants need soil to grow? Is the tree made of soil?”

“Maybe?” Yugo said, but he didn’t know anything about things that grew.  He ran his fingers over the bark again, and then tried to hug the tree. His arms wouldn’t even fit all the way around.  Even if Rin held onto his hand and hugged the other side, their other arms wouldn’t touch. “This is so cool.”

“I know!  They just...grow!  They don’t need anyone to build them, or to tend them, or to fix them....they just grow.”

She wandered towards another, more spindly tree that had grown into a strange design.  It had little red berries growing in clusters among its dark leaves, and Rin poked one experimentally.

“Do you think we can eat those?” Yugo said.

Rin smacked his hand away before he could touch them.

“We don’t know if it’s safe, so don’t you even dare,” she said.

“Aww but I’m hungry.”

He was only joking, but it was funny when Rin glared at him.

Something rustled in the bushes, and Yugo gasped.  He grabbed Rin’s hand and both of them froze.

The bushes parted slightly, and then Yugo inhaled.  Oooh. What was _that_?

He’d never seen anything quite like it before.  He’d seen pictures of horses on family crests before, but this wasn’t quite a horse.  It was slender and small, with tiny hooves and an elegantly angled head and large ears, and no mane.  Thick, sharp looking spines like branches sprouted from its forehead, and it stared at them with huge black eyes.

Rin’s hand tightened in Yugo’s, and Yugo remembered to breathe.

“What is it?” he breathed.

“I think...I don’t know,” Rin mumbled.  “I didn’t read a lot about the surface.”

The creature stared at them for a long moment.  Then it whuffled through its nose, and turned away, walking back into the woods.  Yugo felt Rin’s hand tugging on him, and he realized almost a second too late that Rin was trying to follow it.

“Ray said not to wander too far,” Yugo said.

“We can climb a tree and see the ship from a long way away,” Rin said.  “Come on, Yugo, I want to see where it’s going.”

Yugo nearly thought about arguing with her about it.  But he had never been the responsible one of the two of them, anyway.  So he gripped her hand tightly, and they both followed the creature into the woods.

It actually seemed to be expecting them to follow, because it would stop every couple of steps and look back at them, as though waiting for them to catch up.  And they needed the extra time, too, because the forest quickly became thick and choked with vines and bushes, and they had to duck and twist around and through tight patches of foliage.  It would have been easier if they would let go of each other’s hands, but it was getting so dark in here that Yugo was afraid letting go would mean he’d lose sight of Rin forever. Perhaps Rin thought the same, because she wouldn’t let go of him, either, and in fact tightened her grip any time they reached a place that would have been easier navigated without holding on.

Really, though, they were trying so hard.  What were such little ones doing so far into the woods, anyway?

Yugo choked and stopped, nearly releasing Rin’s hand from the abruptness.  What was that? He thought he had heard something talking about them. Rin swore, but she stumbled back towards him.

“What’s wrong?” she said.

“I....I don’t know.  Hang on a second.”

The two of them paused, and Yugo suddenly realized just how quiet the world had become.  It was so quiet, in fact, that he could hear only his own heart, only Rin’s breaths, and even those felt heavily muffled by a thick blanket thrown over them in the dark.  Somewhere far over head, he could see glimpses of the light above, but the trees were so thick that none of it reached them below. He could only barely see his own hands, or Rin’s.

It was dangerous for such little ones to be this far in.  He probably wouldn’t like it. What was the Walker thinking, bringing them all the way in here?

“Hello?” Yugo said, turning around.  “Hey, is there someone here?”

“Yugo, I don’t hear anything,” Rin said.  She bit her lip, brow furrowing. “Are you okay?”

“Shh.  I definitely hear something.”

The creature had paused, and seemed to be waiting for them.  It looked patient, but Yugo was starting to wonder if it wanted something out of them.

Oh, it seems the boy might be able to hear them?  Can the boy hear them?

“Yeah, I can hear you!  Who are you?”

“Yugo, what’s going on?” Rin said.

“I don’t know, it’s like...it’s like when I hear a machine,” Yugo said.  “There’s something in here, something I can understand.”

“You mean...there’s a machine out here?  In the woods?”

“No, I...I don’t think that’s it.”

He frowned, biting his lip.  

Machine?  They didn’t know this word.  It had a strange taste to it, but not unfamiliar.  

There was no doubt about it, Yugo was hearing someone.

If the boy could hear them, then maybe it wasn’t a problem.  Perhaps that was what the Walker was bringing them here for. They should keep walking, he would want to meet a boy who could hear them.

“I think...we should keep going,” Yugo said.

Rin actually shook a little now.

“No, maybe you were right, maybe this was stupid.  We should go back.”

Yugo looked back the way they had come, and it didn’t look any different than the rest of the wood: dark, thick, and not easy to traverse.  He looked towards the creature, which was still waiting for them.

“I’m not sure we can climb these trees, Rin,” he said.  “I think our only way back is to follow that.”

Rin clasped his hands in both of hers, shaking slightly.

“I don’t think anything here means us any harm,” Yugo said, putting his other hand on top of hers.  “I think we’re going to be okay.”

Rin licked her lips.  She glanced at the creature.  Then she inhaled once, and closed her eyes.

“Okay,” she whispered.  “I trust you.”

Yugo led the way this time, Rin clutching his hand as they followed the creature deeper and deeper into the woods.  Would it simply get even darker the farther they went? Would he soon be unable to see at all?

He heard...water.  The sound of water running up ahead of them.

And then they were breaking through the trees, and the light briefly blinded them both.  Yugo threw a hand over his eyes and Rin pressed her face to his back.

When his vision returned, Yugo squinted out at the place they had come.  Oooh. Wow.

“Rin, look,” Yugo whispered.

Rin peeked up over Yugo’s shoulder.  Then her eyes widened, too, and she stepped out beside him, mouth open with awe.

A beautiful glade opened up to them.  The grass was so soft that it squished under Yugo’s feet, tall enough to rustle against their knees in places.  Beautiful, puffy flowers bounced in a faint breeze and let off little soft floating seeds into the air. There was a lovely, sparkling pool with a small waterfall tumbling over the rocks.  Birds swooped and sang throughout the glade, filling the previously heavy silence with a beautiful cacophony of birds and insects.

The creature with the branch-like horns stepped forward into the glade, slow and steady as it had walked before.  Yugo peeked around it, to see where it was headed.

Oh, he thought.  There was someone here.

Rin tensed beside him, and he gripped her hand hard to reassure her.  The voices in the woods had felt old and gentle, so he didn’t think there would be anything to be scared of in here.  Just like he could tell when an engine had spunk, he could tell those voices had been nice.

The man sitting beside the pool looked up at the approach of the creature.  He smiled, reaching out a hand to it. In the light, the creature looked even more fantastical than before— had he just not seen the way it looked in the dimness of the forest, or had it changed when it stepped into the glade?  Either way, it seemed suddenly bigger, and in place of a soft, tawny fur, it was now covered in glistening red scales. Its horns had turned a bone white, and there were little orbs of blue and green nestled in the crooks of the branches.  Its tail had grown, too, into something long, plated with thick red armor, swishing softly as it walked.

“Odd-Eyes,” the man greeted warmly, standing up to let it nestle its head in his hands.  “Where have you been?”

He was eerily beautiful to look at, in a way that made Yugo shudder.  There was something just a little too perfect about the angles of his face or the porcelain smoothness of his skin.  He had ears that were pointed at the ends, and eyes as warm as melted gold. His hair was short and silver, with lines of a lovely green as though there were plants growing in his hair.  Delicate wings like a dragonfly’s spread from his back, and he was clothed in the softest looking white robes Yugo had ever seen.

Neither he nor Rin could make a sound, and so the man did not notice them until the creature turned to look at them.  Then his golden eyes flickered up, and he caught sight of them.

His eyes widened with surprise at first.  And then they narrowed with suspicion. Rin immediately tensed as though ready to bolt, and Yugo gripped her harder.

“What are you doing here?” the man hissed, and the voice was so ethereal and resonating that Yugo’s very bones shuddered.  “You stink of metal and oil— what are you doing in my domain?”

Rin was getting icy cold to the touch, and it nearly burned Yugo’s hands to touch her, but he didn’t let go.  She was panicking. The grass around her feet was starting to freeze over, and Yugo could feel his hair trembling in a faint breeze that was coming directly off of Rin.

“We just followed!” Yugo said, throwing up one hand.  “We— it wanted us to follow! And the voices in the woods said it was okay!”

The man’s eyes flashed to the creature, who looked back at him with steady dark eyes: one red, one green, not at all like the black orbs they had been in the woods.  It had definitely transformed since they had left the woods.

The eyes returned to the pair of them, looking suspicious.

“Odd-Eyes, why have you brought ones like these here?” the man demanded, eyes not leaving them.

“We didn’t mean any harm, we just— we’ve never been to the ground before, we followed because we thought— ”

“I wasn’t asking you,” the man said.

Rin was starting to have a panic attack.  Yugo could tell because she was starting to mumble, and the ice was starting to frost over a layer of his skin and it hurt a little to move because the air was getting so cold that it was hard to breathe.

And then Yugo just got mad.

“No!” Yugo said.  “You stop it! You’re making Rin scared!  We didn’t mean to intrude, we didn’t know because we don’t know anything about this place down on the ground, and you need to stop being so mean because you’re scaring her!”

His voice rose louder and louder until he was shouting the last words, moving forward so that Rin was behind him.  His voice seemed to echo and ricochet around the glade like they were in some kind of cave for a few moments, and the man looked legitimately startled.

Well, it had been a long time since someone had told him off like that.  It was almost refreshing. Perhaps letting these youngsters through had been a good idea after all.  Though it was getting a bit uncomfortably cold.

“It wouldn’t be cold if you weren’t making Rin upset,” Yugo shouted at the voices.

The man startled, and then his lips parted.

“You can hear them,” he said softly.

“I can hear something, but I don’t know who they are,” Yugo said crossly.  “Now would you all calm down!”

He glared at the man and his creature friend, and then turned around towards Rin.  He took both of her hands in his.

“Don’t worry,” he said.  “I’ll protect you, okay?”

Rin actually laughed, but she tried to breathe, clinging to his hands.

“I know you will,” she said.  “I know you will.”

She closed her eyes, and slowly, slowly, the cold retreated.  Her hands were normal and cool to the touch again.

When Yugo and Rin turned to see the man again, he was sitting, considering them with a look in his eyes.

“You’re from the air,” he said.  “The places of metal and oil.”

“Well, yeah,” Yugo said.  “You already guessed that.”

“I’m not used to visitors from there who aren’t here to cut down my trees,” he said.  “Or hunt my charges.”

“Well, we’re not here to do that.  We were just curious.”

“We’ve never seen trees before,” Rin said quietly.

The man looked shocked at that.

“You’ve never seen a tree, and yet you are a Listener?” he said.

“A what?” said Yugo.

“A Listener,” the man said patiently.  Now that he wasn’t being angry, he actually seemed more like a teacher than an ethereal force of nature.  “You can hear the voices of nature. You were hearing the trees when you passed through, and talking to them.”

“What?  Really? Those were trees?  No wonder they all sounded so slow.”

Yugo bit his lip.

“You’ve never heard the trees before?” the man said.

“I’ve never met a tree before,” Yugo said.  “Mostly I just hear machines.”

“Machines?” the man said, eyes widening.  “Machines don’t talk.”

“They do to Yugo,” Rin said, before Yugo could make an angry retort.  He was so tired of people thinking that machines couldn’t think! This was why people treated their machines so carelessly.

The man’s head tilted, as though he were listening to Yugo’s thoughts.

“Interesting,” he said finally, softly.  “You’re already bonded...and not to something of the earth.”

“I’m what?” Yugo said.

The man stood up, and his robes glistened as though he were made of white foam.

“My name is Zarc,” he said.  “And this is my bonded one, Odd-Eyes.  He is a qilin, though you met him in the form of a deer outside of my domain.”

The beautiful creature bowed its head to them, light catching over the orbs in its horns.

Zarc tilted his head at them again.

“A Listener, and a windwitch,” he said.  “A curious pair.”

“You know about windwitches?” Rin said, trembling slightly.

“They used to roam the skies far more freely than they do now, before the era of steel and steam,” Zarc said.  “I used to know many of them well. The earth, then, was full of Listeners. But the world fell silent to many, and I was all that was left.”

He stroked Odd-Eyes absently, and the qilin closed his eyes to lean into the touch.

“I thought it was the metal and flames that stole the ability to listen away,” he said.  “And yet...here you are. A child of metal and oil, who hears the speech of both trees and machines.”

“I don’t get a word you’re saying,” Yugo said.

Zarc simply smiled, but this time, there was something snarky about it, like he was a teenager instead of some impossibly old being.  He swooshed forward, so fast and so smoothly that Yugo didn’t realize that he was in front of them until he was. Rin jumped a little, but didn’t release Yugo.

Zarc considered the two of them for a long moment.  Then he smiled again, and gently, laid his hands on both of their heads.

“Perhaps the world isn’t as ruined as I thought it was,” he said.  “Is that why you brought them here to meet me, Odd-Eyes?”

Odd-Eyes made a whuffling sound, and Zarc’s hands came away.

“Do you want something with us?” Yugo said suspiciously.

Zarc laughed softly.

“Only to go back, and keep listening,” he said.  “There are many things in this world that don’t remember what it is like to be heard.  Perhaps wood, air, and metal can all live in a harmony I never knew, if you keep listening.  And if the two of you keep holding hands.”

And then Yugo blinked once, and they were at the edge of the woods again.  The glade, Zarc, and Odd-Eyes all were gone.

Rin’s hand felt kind of sweaty in his, but he still didn’t let go.  His heart was hammering in his chest, and his mouth was dry.

“That happened, right?” he said.

Rin just nodded.

They stood there for a long, long moment, just looking up at the blue sky, which hadn’t changed an inch since they had left.

Yugo squeezed Rin’s hand.

“Let’s come back and see him again later,” he said.  “When we know more about everything.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Rin said.  “But don’t let go of my hand, okay?”

“Never, ever, ever.”


	8. The Wind in Our Sails

_ The secret to happiness is freedom... And the secret to freedom is courage. _

\- Thucydides

* * *

 

“Yugo!  Help her out on the starboard engines!”

“On it!”

“Selena, sails to second level!”

“Going!”

“Ruri, report what’s going out there!”

“They’re still on our tail, Captain!  But we should be able to shake them if we keep course!”

Rin grinned, the wind catching at the edges of her lips and making it wider.  She bore down on the controls, and pulled  _ The Winter Bell _ around to their coordinates.

“Yuzu, you on the guns?” she shouted into the intercom.

“Ready if we need them!  Shun’s in place, too!”

“Excellent.  Yugo, how’s Bell doing?”

“She’s ready and eager to sail!  That old clunker of a navy ship won’t ever be able to keep up with Bell when she’s all fired up like this!”

Rin felt the bubbling whoop growing in her stomach, and then she tapped her hand against the wheel and sent a flurry of frost through the air.  The silent signal, this time; the navy could hack their comms, but it couldn’t notice the symbols of frost she was sending out down through the ship to signal the rest of the crew.

As one, she and the other three windwitches on board called on the winds.

One wind billowed into their generators and against their powerful sails, bursting them forwards.  The other shot backwards, crashing into the pursuing navy ship and tilting it back. They wouldn’t be able to pursue or fight back against that, not after their hit and run attack had relieved them of their windwitch.  The rescued girl in question was staring at the ship falling behind them rapidly with her mouth open, hazel eyes alight with awe.

“I’ve been on that ship for four years, and I’ve never known we could be so strong,” the girl said, looking up through her short brown bangs.

“The navy likes us to be just powerful enough to help, but not powerful enough to fight back,” Rin said, grinning down at the girl.  “You doing all right, by the way? Once we’re clear, you should go see Ruri and Yuzu, they’ll check you over.”

“Just a little weak from the sedation,” the girl said, ducking her head.  She shifted back and forth on her feet, nervous for a moment. Then she smiled.  “Thank you. I thought I’d be there for my entire life.”

She was young, Rin thought.  About the age Rin had been when she’d been rescued from Academia.  The navy really was getting worried if they were sending girls that young out onto ships already.

“It’s what we do,” Rin said, smiling.  “You’re free now, so don’t be afraid. The wind is the real thing this time.”

The girl smiled tentatively, wind rustling through her short brown hair.

Yuzu’s head poked up from the lower deck and she smiled.

“Aoi-chan, we’re clear!  If you want to come down here, Ruri and I can help you settle in!”

“Thank you,” the girl said.  She bobbed an awkward bow towards Rin, and then slid down the ladder after Yuzu. 

Rin let out a sigh, leaning against the steering wheel.  She could easily control the ship from the control room down below, but it didn’t feel as nice as being up here on the top deck, in the wind, looking at the light glimmering through their solar sails.  

She heard a soft thump, and looked up to see Yugo swinging himself over the railings.

“Oh, you,” she said, putting her hands on her hips.  “Don’t scale along the outside! That’s dangerous!”

“Clear Wing’ll catch me if I fall,” Yugo said, grinning that lopsided grin of his.

“Use the stairs like a normal person,” Rin said, rolling her eyes.

But she smiled when Yugo flopped his arms over her, and she grabbed him around the waist.

“Another successful rescue, Capt’n!” Yugo said, bouncing back and flashing her a salute.

“Don’t ever do that again,” Rin said, laughing and pushing him.

Yugo giggled and pushed her back, and for a few moments, they just teased each other like that.  It went on until Rin tickled him in just the right spot that had him dying on the floor.

“No more, no more, I give up!!” he said, out of breath and crying from laughter.

Rin giggled and tickled him one more time for good measure, just to make him curl up and wriggle beneath her with more giggles.

She flopped down on top of him, then, and the two of them laid there on the deck.  The wind whistled softly overhead, rustling their sails.

“We make a good team,” Yugo said.

“We do,” she said.

Yugo’s arms slid up around her waist and held her there comfortably.  She hoped she wasn’t crushing him, but he didn’t seem to want her to move.

“How long has it been since we started?” she said.

“Um...two years?  Three? Winter Bell says three.”

Three years.  Was that all? It felt like a lifetime since they had found this old ship, fixed her up, and parted ways with the crew of  _ The Wheel of Fortune. _  Since Crow had passed along all of the info about their rebel network, and they’d become captains in control of their own ship, sailing around, picking up former friends and windwitches and their friends and families to sail with them and fight against the navy in their own way.

It had been an even longer time since they had visited the surface, or at the very least, the forest.

“Do you think we should visit him again sometime?” Rin said.  “See if there’s anything we can do down there, instead of just up here?”

“I don’t think it’s time yet,” Yugo said.  “I think we have more to learn up here, first.”

Rin nodded.  She didn’t have the same intuition as Yugo, but she trusted it.  Even if she couldn’t hear Winter Bell or Clear Wing, she knew that Yugo did, and she’d always trust his ears and his gut.

“Thank you,” Rin said softly.

“For what?”

“For flying with me, all this time.”

Yugo squeezed her a little tighter.  He sat up, then, bringing her with him— he’d not gotten much taller in the last few years, but he’d filled out, and gotten much stronger.  He could pick her up without even blinking.

She settled in his lap, arms around his shoulders, and he smiled up at her— the same dazzling smile that had melted her heart all those years and years ago.

She thought maybe she moved first, but maybe it didn’t matter.  Their lips pressed hard together, and it was cold and warm and she wanted nothing more than to keep kissing him until she stopped breathing.

They broke it off before that happened, though, gasping and panting for breath.

“That was our promise forever,” Yugo laughed softly.  “I always, always will want to fly with you.”

“Forever?” Rin whispered.

“Forever and ever and ever.”

She kissed him hard again, until no windwitch in the world could have given back the breath they took away.


End file.
